1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for effectively supplying terrestrial plants e.g. farm products such as fruits and vegetables, planted trees and the like with a solution useful for raising of the terrestrial plants, so that a photosynthesis is activated in the terrestrial plants and the growth of the terrestrial plants can be accelerated to provide improved yield and quality of farm products and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A method of and an apparatus for electrolysis of a water contained in an aquarium for ornamental fish use by using carbon electrode as an anode has been proposed in the European Patent Publication No. EPA0589705A1, wherein water plants placed in the aquarium can be supplied with carbon dioxide and the growth of the water plants in the aquarium is accelerated.
However, no equipment configuration for supplying a large amount of solution of carbon dioxide is provided by this prior art since the aquarium for keeping ornamental fish and water plants is small in capacity. In addition to this, any method of effectively supplying terrestrial plants with carbon dioxide is not suggested by this prior art since the water plants in the aquarium can be automatically supplied with carbon dioxide when the carbon dioxide is dissolved in water in the aquarium.
In the prior art for acceleration of carbon dioxide assimilation of terrestrial plants, the method of supplying carbon dioxide gas into a vinyl house or a green house has been practiced in general in order to increase concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere of the vinyl house. In this conventional method, the carbon dioxide gas is produced by combustion of fossil fuel such as liquefied petroleum gas, heavy oil or the like and the produced carbon dioxide gas is introduced into a cultivation room such as a vinyl house or equivalent, accordingly, a concentration of the carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere of the vinyl house is increased and a photosynthesis in the terrestrial plants is activated. Consequently, a yield and a quality of farm products and the like is improved.
However, the conventional method of directly supplying the terrestrial plants with the carbon dioxide gas involves following disadvantages. A large investment in equipment of an airtight cultivation room such as a vinyl house or equivalent is required. Also, the cultivation of plants in the cultivating room inevitably put restrictions on a cultivating area of plants. Further, the combustion of the fossil fuel to obtain the carbon dioxide gas un-desirably generates a large amount of nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide which exert a harmful influence on the growth of the plants and a worker. In addition, there may be a case where incomplete combustion of the fossil fuel generates black smoke which may adhere to the plants and the vinyl house, so that an amount of light reaching the plants is reduce. Furthermore, attention must be paid to the control of temperature of the cultivation room since the heat resulting from the combustion of the fossil fuel causes increasing temperature of the cultivation room. Besides, ventilation causes the carbon dioxide gas to simultaneously escape from the cultivation room, so that a reduction in the supply efficiency is caused.